[And now back into the Underdark with Fenrir and Reinward, who have entered the Lair of Queen Arachnia.]
DAY 506(21th Flamerule)(july) cont ...
Even when translated using magic, it was difficult to follow what the kobolds said on many occasions.
Their language has a lot of unspoken nuance in it and a direct magical translation often leads to comical mistranslations. It is a sarcastic language, from what
I understand and whenever (for instance) a tongue is place in a certain way on a fang at the end of the sentence reveals that the speaker means to opposite of what they said.
Humans lack fangs, and the forked tongues needed to convey these subtle meanings so the magic, doing its best I'm sure, was never able to tell Fenrir if what the kobolds said was true or if they were taking the piss.
Still, it was clear by the end of the pow-wow that the kobolds were happy to take Fenrir and Reinward to see the The Descendents of Addar the next day.
DAY 507(21th Flamerule)(july)
Fenrir and Reinward had lost track of the day/night cycle by now, but they were woken in 'the morning' by the kobold ambassadors that would take them to see the dark elves.
The ambassadors spent a good deal of time preparing gifts for the dark elves which gave the men enough time to get their breakfast. Ishi was not going to come with them, but she wished them luck.
'The Descendents of Addar' lived in another ruined part of the city, hidden away from the dangers of the undead, deep in the cellars of fallen keep.
First the were met by a scouting party of five elves, who then lead them further in, deeper into the dungeons of Addar. They were finally introduced to an ancient dark elf who introduced himself as Harxar Geveff.
'I am an elder of my people,' he told them. 'Explain yourselves to me.'
'I'm Bob,' said Reinward. 'And this is my friend Barry Shitknees!'
'Well,' went on Fenrir, slightly pushing Reinward to one side. 'We are hear seeking an artifact. It is linked to a prophecy.'
'If it's prophecies you want,' snarled the elf. 'Then you'd better meet our leader.'
They were then taken to meet an even more ancient dark elf called Gardex Jur'Heer. He told them he was over five hundred years old, and while he certainly looked it, it seems unlikely as elves rarely go beyond four hundred.
'My father's father's father was the great Addar himself. What do you make of that?'
'Yeah,' replied the men. 'That's great.'
As they spoke the smoked a water-pipe that was packed full of Underdark weed. Reinward was feeling the effects, his eyes starting to roll back in their sockets.
'So you come to us seeking aid... Bob?' said the dusty old dark elf.
And so they talked. Fenrir gave the old fellow the basic run down of their quest and the horrible old dark elf seemed glad to help if it meant ill for the Spider Queen.
Drinks were served, a dark looking liquid that smelled of mushrooms and the old fellow droned on, happy for new people to talk to even if they were Overlanders.
'And what news of the surface? What news of Gerrin Wyvernspur's fight against the red dragons in Cormyr?'
Fenrir had no idea, not being a student of history and I must admitted I had to look it up. Gerrin Wyvernspur is over three hundred years dead which gives some indication of how often news came to the Addar!
Jur'Heer was a ghastly old fellow, arrogant and cruel, but he answered their questions. Reinward asked about interesting places of the city and was told there was;
- a tavern run by a liche, which would serve the living.
- a haunted library, dangerous but full of wisdom.
- a brothel inhabited by lascivious spirits
- an area of wild magic
- an abandoned magic item shop. 1000 years old and guarded by nasty undead
- a portal or earth node, once used to visit the Overworld
- an enclave of secretive people that just arrived recently (50 years ago)
The information that they wanted to get to Queen Arachnia he withheld though. I doubt he even wanted anything they had to offer, he just knew it was of value and his evil instinct was to make them pay for it.
They offered him gold, but he was not interested, then they gave him an Alexandrite gem (worth 400gp) that got the ball rolling. He said;
''
Very well! Help us then, Oh Pale-faced Overworlders, and we will grant you wisdom! And help you with your quest. Part of our keep has fallen to undead. You should have no great problem clearing them out, but beware the Giant Undead Jumping Mollies that live in the flooded sections! If you can bring me the Lamp of Banguul from the Dungeon of Jarrgh, then I will consider the deed done.
''
The lads decided to do it then and there, and were shown down to the lower areas of the ruined keep that had been overrun. There were many skeletons and zombies there, but they swept them easily aside. The final area they came to was flooded and to get to the other side of a room they had to cross a narrow walkway.
Reinward tentatively threw a stone in the water. Neither of them knew what a Molly was and were nervous of what they might be. Fenrir took to the air and flew west.
It was then that the Mollies attacked. A Molly is a type of fish that often lives in caves and these were giant and undead. There were just two though and they found it very hard to hit Fenrir as he flew about, even though the could leap high enough. Reinward even managed to stab one as it leapt past him, and it was not long before the fish were defeated.
The continued on to the double doors to the north that Fenrir opened with his Ring of Knock. A strong smell of the grave rushed out at them on a fetid wind.
Fenrir, invisible, floated carefully into the chamber beyond. As he moved in he saw rank after rank of skeletal warriors. He pulled back, then they tried to lure them out, to be able to fight them in the bottleneck of the doorway.
They would not come, but instead a spiritual weapon sprung up to hit at them, then several swarms of locusts soon followed. Annoying as the locusts were, Fenrir's Eldritch Cone could destroy them. This time Reinward advanced into the room and as Fenrir followed after him, blasting down the front ranks of the warriors, the wily rogue dodged and tumbled to the back of the chamber where a Mummy Lord was directing the defence of his tomb.
Reinward bravely (very much out of character!) managed to get behind the Mummy and stab it in the back. Normally this would not be all that annoying to undead, but Reinward had magic about him that made his sneak attacks dangerous to them.
The Mummy reeled, but still stood. It then turned to Reinward and touched him. It was a Slay Living spell and it killed Reinward stone dead.
Fenrir had finished off the skeletons though and soon arrived to destroy the already weakened Mummy. He then leaned over Reinward and watched to see what happened next.
He was not disappointed. As one of the red bands around the rogue's wrist faded away, coughing and spluttering he returned to the land of the living.
This was the forth of the ten rings on his wrists that had gone now. The first to a Succubus, the second to the Night Parade, and the third traded for a magical ring.
There was some powerful loot to be found in some chests at the back of the chamber including a Ring of Blinking and the mysterious Lamp of Banguul.
Gardex Jur'Heer seemed happy with their success, and after he'd had a bit of an evil cackle he motioned for them to come closer.
'Listen carefully,' he began. 'And I will tell you how to enter the inner sanctum of
Queen Arachnia...'
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